LSU gymnastics advances to No. 6 in national rankings

From LSU Sports

BATON ROUGE – After scoring the first 197 since the 2010 season last week at the Metroplex Challenge the LSU gymnastics team climbed one spot to No. 6 in the latest national rankings released Monday by GymInfo.

LSU (5-2) scored a 197.100 at the Metroplex Challenge on Saturday to raise the Tigers' season average to 196.394 and jump Nebraska in the standings.

After posting outstanding scores of 49.500 on vault, 49.450 on bars and 49.400 on floor last week, the Tigers also made significant jumps up the team event rankings.

LSU climbed to a tie with Michigan for No. 1 in the nation on floor with a 49.344 team average, and the Tigers are ranked No. 2 on vault behind Florida with a 49.356 average. LSU jumped eight spots from No. 24 to No. 16 on bars with a 48.819 average, and the Tigers are ranked No. 10 on beam with a 48.875 average.

Four Tigers are ranked in the top 25 in the individual standings. Rheagan Courville, who tied for the all-around title at Metroplex with a 39.450, is ranked 17th nationally in the all-around with a 39.281 average. Courville also ranks fourth on floor with a 9.906 average and 14th on vault with a 9.888 average.

Kaleigh Dickson checked in at No. 18 in the all-around standings after she scored a career-high 39.275 in her first appearance in the all-around this season at Metroplex. Dickson also ranks No. 4 nationally on bars with a 9.90.

Sarie Morrison is ranked in the top 10 in the two events she competes. She is No. 6 on bars with a 9.881 average and No. 10 on vault with a 9.894 mark.

Randi Lau ranks No. 8 nationally on vault after she scored a 9.90 on her first vault of the year.

Florida replaced Michigan as the No. 1 team in the rankings after tallying the highest score in the nation last week with a 197.650. Oklahoma remained No. 2, followed by Michigan at No. 3, UCLA at No. 4 and Alabama at No. 5. LSU, Nebraska, Georgia, Utah and Minnesota round out the top 10.

Seven of eight SEC teams are ranked in the top 25 with Kentucky at No. 16, Auburn at No. 17 and Arkansas at No. 22. Missouri is the only unranked SEC squad.

LSU heads to Lexington, Ky., to take on the 16th-ranked Kentucky Wildcats (4-2) at 6 p.m. CT Friday in Memorial Coliseum. Live audio will be available free of charge in the Geaux Zone at www.LSUsports.net/live, and fans can receive live updates of the meet by following the Tigers on social media at www.Facebook.com/lsugym and @LSUgym on Twitter.

"But to me, some of the things we do in our country, I grew up, they were unifying events and it’s a little painful to see that those things are not so right now. But I also respect everyone’s right not to be censored in terms of the way they express their beliefs."

"But to me, some of the things we do in our country, I grew up, they were unifying events and it’s a little painful to see that those things are not so right now. But I also respect everyone’s right not to be censored in terms of the way they express their beliefs."